“I feel great knowing that I helped my command, and hopefully the Sailor, by turning them over to the authorities,” said Acevedo. “It took a lot of courage to turn someone over who I knew needed assistance, although that it could strain our friendship. I also love the fact that I received an award that will help me promote for it!”

Capt. Rich LeBron, commanding officer of Bonhomme Richard, said it is important that Sailors follow Acevedo’s lead by helping their shipmates who are underage drinking.

“We need more Sailors to take initiative and step up to their leadership responsibilities,” said LeBron. “Acevedo, is a prime example of a Sailor who rose up to the occasion and helped their Shipmates. There is a negative stigmatism given to personnel who do what Acevedo did. Turning over a drunken shipmate to proper authorities is not ‘snitching,’ it is heroism at it’s finest.”

Any Sailor looking for help please refer to your command Drug and Alcohol Program Assistant (DAPA). There

The USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) medical department teamed up with Hospital Corpsman from Navy Environmental and Preventative Medicine Unit (NEPMU) 5 to host a health awareness fair for Sailors assigned to the ship, October 17.

The health fair covered personal health and well-being subjects including alcohol and tobacco consumption, sexual and mental health, and diet and fitness.

“These are very important subjects and we make it our job to provide the Navy with the healthiest fighting force that we can,” said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Ryan Kowalski, a preventative medicine technician with NEPMU 5.

Bonhomme Richard and NEPMU 5 set up stations that gave Sailors the opportunity to learn from their shipmates on a variety of health topics.

“This is what we call a motivational and educational event,” said Kowalski. “We come to a command and set up displays with a lot of information on subjects such as nutrition, fitness, alcohol and tobacco use, men’s and women’s health, and stress. We do it so we can show off the different resources and options that Sailors have.”

Lt. Qianning Zhang, Bonhomme Richard’s medical administration officer, said the goal of the fair was to teach Sailors about the resources available to them to improve their overall health.

“Sailors have the power to improve the health and well-being of their own lives,” said Zhang. “It’s our job to point them in the right direction and provide them with options to better themselves.”

Bonhomme Richard and NEPMU 5 take pride in their roles as medical experts and their abilities to assist their Sailors.

“We’re trying to teach Sailors to take health and wellness one step at a time,” said Kowalski. “ We would like to help them learn what they can tackle now so they can steadily improve. It’s hard for Sailors to get a grasp of everything we are teaching all at once, so it’s important that they understand they have people they can come to if they have questions. It’s important to me that we provide the Navy with the healthiest fighting force that we can.”

Bonhomme Richard is in its homeport of San Diego.

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